Information technology increasing evolution and progressive integration between the world of information technology and the world of media and entertainment bring new requirements on system architectures. An increasing number of formats, interfaces and access protocols must be dealt with at the same time. In this environment it is extremely important the availability for the users of fast and intuitive tools for combining different components together. In particular, those users without an advanced technical skill need an easy access to complex technologies, but on the other hand the interface tools must be sufficiently powerful and flexible to allow an expert user to exploit all the possible features of a data processing system.
A current trend which provides good results is the functional block approach, according to which a plurality of basic functional blocks can be combined together to assemble a complete service.
Web Services technology is one of the possible examples of such functional block approach. It can be well considered a de facto standard for system integration. It provides some basic components: a commonly understood language (WSDL) for defining access interfaces for accessing a service through the web, independently from the implementing technology actually used and a protocol (SOAP) integrated with the Web environment, for invoking the service.
It is more and more usual to provide Mash-Up environment, i.e. a combination of contents or services from one or more applications, which creates a new application that can include topics, information and services from several different sources. Mashup combines some of the most innovative features of Web 2.0: the vision of the network as a platform where, thanks to shared protocols, applications are able to communicate with each other, the tendency on the part of best known web sites to make contents and services freely available, and the participation of users, who increasingly become independent producers of contents and services. The result of a mashup can be unique and unprecedented, especially for the opportunity to mix different information types, and it can be really innovative if tools are made available that allow an easy mashup design and creation also to users with minimal technical knowledge.
Gadget of Google Desktop and Pipes of Yahoo are two examples of important technology trend in the field of functional blocks architectures. These two examples address both data composition and procedures.
Even though Web Services technique ensures the syntactic compatibility for systems communications, they still have strict limits as far as semantic characterization is concerned.
Several attempts have been made in the area of Semantic Web to try to define rules and standards for a semantic characterization of a web service or a system. For example, languages such as OWL-S and SAWSDL, allow to describe the semantic of an operation performed through a Web Service and of the related input and output, even for users with a low technical skill.
To help in assisting users (in particular un-experienced users) in handling the combination of functional blocks it would be desirable to provide an intuitive and flexible interface which can guide users in such combination, maybe giving an immediately perceivable indication of which combination are expected to be successful.
U.S.2008/0126987 discloses a method for graphically representing compatible workflow components to a user. The method includes graphically displaying, in a graphical user interface, a plurality of steps in a workflow. A user's selection is received, wherein the selection is for at least one step in the plurality of steps. The user's selection denotes at least one selected step. At least a portion of the graphical user interface is dynamically populated for displaying a list with at least one workflow component that is compatible to accept an output from the selected step. The list can also display at least one workflow component that can provide an output to the selected step. The workflow component is selectable by the user so that it can be added to the workflow.
Several techniques are now available to provide sensorial feedbacks to a user of a data processing system but, to Applicant's knowledge, none of them have ever been implemented in the field of Web Services or, more generally in the combination of functional blocks through a data processing system.
U.S.2007/01393375 discloses a method and apparatus for providing force feedback to a user operating a human/computer interface device in conjunction with a graphical user interface (GUI) displayed by a host computer system. A physical object, such as a joystick or a mouse, controls a graphical object, such as a cursor, within the GUI. The GUI allows the user to interface with operating system functions implemented by the computer system. A signal is output from the host computer to the interface device to apply a force sensation to the physical object using one or more actuators. This desired force sensation is associated with at least one of the graphical objects and operating system functions of the graphical user interface and is determined by a location of the cursor in the GUI with respect to targets that are associated with the graphical objects. The graphical objects include icons, windows, pull-down menus and menu items, scroll bars (“sliders”), and buttons. The force sensation assists the user to select a desired operating system function or physically informs the user of the graphical objects encountered by the cursor within the GUI.